


Sunset

by orange_creamsicle



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe?, Angst with a (sort-of?) Happy Ending, F/F, I Made Myself Cry, but it's mainly just angst, but not really, i love obscure references, it's about the Friendship, it's convoluted af, this isn't about the ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_creamsicle/pseuds/orange_creamsicle
Summary: Jihyo and Jeongyeon at the end of time.
Relationships: Park Jisoo | Jihyo/Yoo Jeongyeon
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry in advance.

Jihyo remembers the beginning of the end. 

It started with the small things: one of the kitchen knives suddenly going missing, a phone charger mysteriously vanishing. Because lost things do sometimes reappear somewhere else from time to time, they didn’t really think too much of it, though the disappearance of the knife was cause for slight concern among some of the more responsible members. 

Mina was the first to go. One moment she was there lying on her bed, soft beeps and content humming coming out of her room as she played games on her Switch. Then suddenly she wasn’t. Her bed was empty, slightly ruffled sheets and still-blinking Switch the only indication that she was ever really there. 

Tzuyu was next, two days after Mina. She murmured to the rest of them that she would be outside with Butter and Kaya, but when Chaeyoung went to check 20 minutes later, she was met with two frightened dogs whimpering for their owner and no sign of TWICE’s maknae. The loss of their two quietest members seemed to permeate about the dormitory, a sadness that settled deep within their hearts. Their voices didn’t seem to echo as loudly and most conversations lapsed into long moments of silence, speaking to the immense effect that both Mina and Tzuyu held over the rest of their members. 

Dahyun blipped out that evening in Sana’s arms as the remaining members cuddled for a movie and the older girl freaked out. She was inconsolable for the next few days, clinging to Momo’s arm like a lifeline, panic making her barely able to speak or breathe. It didn’t help that within an hour of Dahyun, Chaeyoung had also vanished as well in the middle of a painting session, the still-wet red paint on the edge of her brush smearing against the floor. Even her half-finished painting was beautiful, almost a mockery of what was and what could have been. 

Jihyo thinks that the one silver lining in all of this was the fact that despite the situation, it seemed fate had destined for the School Meal Club to not be too long without each other, a very optimistic olive branch that she clung on to for days after their maknaes left. 

Just like they came, Momo and Sana eventually blipped out together too. Jihyo’s heart broke when she passed by Sana’s room and heard her anguished cries for Mina, for Dahyun, for Chaeyoung and Tzuyu as an equally stricken Momo attempted to calm her, and when the two Japanese girls left, a part of her was glad that their suffering was over. 

With that, it was down to three: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, and Jihyo. The originals, the mainstays, the central pillar holding TWICE up. After the first few disappearances, Jihyo realized that it would come down to the three of them. They’ve been with each other the longest through everything, and they’d be with each other through this too. 

Nayeon was always the life of the party. Their laughs, wild times at the karaoke bar or fond memories of sneaking out at night, Jihyo remembered all of it and somehow felt that with Jeongyeon and Nayeon at the helm, it could have been like that again. But Nayeon seemed to have retreated more into herself than ever when the blips started and most of the time spent between the three of them was spent in silence. Jihyo understood Nayeon, she knew their oldest member felt responsible for what happened to their younger ones, felt that she had a duty to suffer instead of them. She knew Nayeon was scared out of her mind for what had happened and absolutely terrified for what would happen. She recognized the mask of false bravery her unnie put on every day, for it’s the same mask she herself adorns. Being the leader and oldest member brought them closer to each other than anything else could have. 

After almost a week, Nayeon blipped out too. They were sitting around the table after dinner and just talking, much like how they had done for almost a decade. Jeongyeon might have cracked a joke and Nayeon laughed. The sound rang out like a bell in the almost silent dorms after Nayeon suddenly blinked out of existence. In all of the pain, there was beauty too. Nayeon’s last moment on this earth was one of happiness in the direst of times. 

Jihyo thinks it’s beyond poetic that her and Jeongyeon are the last two. Jeongyeon is her first best friend, her one constant in more than 10 years of struggle together. They’re the first two TWICE members, their lives intertwined together by layers of spider-silk memories, forming a ribbon between them that can never be broken. It’s fate. Of course the one person who has never left her side since the beginning would be with her until the end. 

The beach was Jeongyeon’s idea. They’d been stuck in the dorms since the disappearances started, but seeing as now it was just the two of them left, Jeongyeon felt it was time to live out their lives to the fullest. To have no regrets, no matter what it would be. And here they are, sitting together on the warm sand with smooth glasses of soju, the tide washing in against the tips of their toes as they watch the red sun slowly fall into oblivion. Jihyo thinks of “Sunset”, one of the first songs she really poured her soul into. Then the song was a metaphor, but now it seems real. 

All Jihyo could think about when her members first vanished was getting them back. That somehow, in some way, this horrible thing could be reversed and they would be nine again. But now, as she sits on the sand with Jeongyeon, she thinks she has let that go. It isn’t really resignation in her ultimate fate, but more a feeling of content. She’s ready to let go, to run towards the setting sun where her members must be waiting for her. But sitting here with Jeongyeon, she’s okay with waiting for just a few more moments before it happens. 

Unconsciously, Jihyo’s hand scrabbles against the sand and finds Jeongyeon’s, interlocking their fingers together closely. There’s a lot unsaid between them that Jihyo tries to communicate simply in between their hands. _I’m glad it’s you. Thank you for always being there for me. My beloved friend._ Jeongyeon gently squeezes Jihyo’s hand and she knows the message was received loud and clear. 

Jihyo glances to her left at Jeongyeon as she gazes at the setting sun. Her face is bathed in warmth, red light turning into fire in her blonde hair and chocolate eyes. Jihyo thinks Jeongyeon has never looked more beautiful. 

They sit in silence for a while, the only sound the swishing of the tide as it ebbs and flows at their feet. 

Jeongyeon raises her glass and Jihyo does the same, clear glasses reflecting the red-orange fire of the sunset. “So this is the way the world ends,” Jeongyeon says. “Not with a bang but a —”

Silence. The glasses fall out of the air and embed themselves in the sand with a _SHINK_. The rising tide slowly but surely washes against the shoreline, making anew the depressed sand. 

If not for a set of two footprints approaching the edge of the water, it would seem that no one had been there.

**Author's Note:**

> I said I was sorry.
> 
> Truth be told this wasn't (extraordinarily) angsty in my head but when I wrote it it turned into this... Jihyo's post on Jeongyeon's birthday made me cry anyways so it's not like this was that far off. 
> 
> Also this whole piece references an arc from a TV show that almost nobody I know watches so it might be kinda confusing and obscure lol. But the only dialogue basically comes straight from that show. If you know you know. 
> 
> All comments are greatly appreciated! :)
> 
> twt: @seulgified97


End file.
